Maybe your first business trip is still ahead of you. Maybe you’ve reached gold status as frequent flyer, and remember your first business trip well. I remember mine – I guess I was about 18 years old. Meanwhile, I’ve made hundreds of flights and have seen most of Europe’s major airports. No matter if you are a travelling abroad for work on a weekly basis, or if your first ever business trip is still ahead of you, a few suggestions to make your business trips more pleasant might be welcome anyway! I learned it the hard way by trial and error, so I’d be happy to share my experiences with you!

Don’t make it a big deal

I travel a lot for my work and I am extremely grateful for that opportunity. Sometimes people come to me and say: “You’re travelling so much… You must be exhausted!” In fact, I am not. Ok, a rare delay or a speedy trip to the airport, or a bumpy flight are not the most pleasant experiences that travelling has to offer. But I can’t say I am annoyed by it. Especially things you can’t change, such as flight delay or turbulence, are not worth to get stressed about since they are given facts.

Take advantage from it

If you travel on company expenses, you should deliver accordingly. However, no one will blame you for taking the best out of your business trip! There are several ways you can take more out of it. If your schedule allows, go out and visit town or a landmark. Ideally, you could extend your trip with a day or two at your own expenses to get an impression of your destination. It contributes to a better understanding of the country and its people, and that affects your business there too. Another opportunity lies in the free time you have while on planes and trains. I have a ‘golden rule’ for myself: Whenever I fly, I buy a new book. A 1/2-hour flight is enough to get an impression of a book, and a 3-hour flight is enough to read a 120-pager. If you fly somewhere once a month, you have read 24 books, or at least got an impression of them, by the end of the year. It’s also a great opportunity to answer and organize your emails. Once you’ve arrived, find a wifi-spot and send them out!

Prepare well

Preparing your trip well saves a lot of stress. Know where you’re going, know who you’re meeting, clearly set out your goals and know your schedule. Don’t start your journey with a lack of sleep, and avoid alcohol. Follow these simple rules and you’re already half way of making your business trip more pleasant.

Improve the experience

An experience is worth so much more when you actively register it. I can recommend you to keep a diary, to describe what you have seen, learned and experienced on your business trip. A short business trip with a tight schedule can be very overwhelming, and you might forget your impressions quickly. Take photos, videos, and keep your diary, even if you only have the time to write down a few lines or even keywords.

Other ways to improve the experience are checking in online, travelling with hand luggage only, pick a seat between row 1 and 10 on a plane, use speedy boarding possibilities, collect air miles to receive upgrades and lounge access and use iris scan facitilies when possible.

Avoid classical mistakes

There are a few classical mistakes, often made on business trips. Try to avoid them!

• “Let’s save some money and go for a cheap hotel and flight” - Yes, you have to be cost-efficient. But not as far as compromising on your physical well-being and a good night sleep! Your business trip can be so much more effective if you pick the second cheapest option!
• “We have to be at the airport 2,5 hours in advance” – No way! Airlines would like to make sure all passengers are at the gate in time, to avoid delays. They also want to avoid lines at the check-in counter. In case you go to the airport 2,5 hours in advance, you will find yourself bored out of your mind for at least 1,5 hours in 90 percent of the time. Look at the time it takes to get to the airport, take into consideration lines and make a realistic calculation, including some buffer time. 2,5 hours might sometimes be realistic, but certainly not all the time. In Amsterdam, where I live, I usually make sure to be at the airport about 30 minutes before boarding starts.
• “Let’s hit the bar!” – Socializing, yes. Hanging out in the hotel bar until 2:00 in the morning, no. Doing whatever you have to do the next morning won’t be easy with a headache, and certainly not with a hangover!

Most important…

My suggestions are the ones that work for me. You might figure out how to do things in a different way that suits you better. Try to figure out what works best for you, and keep refining! Have a good journey!

Photo by tania64

The other day I had a discussion with a friend about exercising. Since a couple of months, I exercise at the gym at least 1-2 times a week. I decided to go to gym because it is something you can do everywhere, both at your local sports club, as well as in hotels and even at home. In this post, I would like to tell you about the benefits of regular exercise.

First of all, it doesn’t matter if you go to the gym, swim, run or play football, basketball or another team sport. What matters, is that you give your body a physical impulse on a regular basis – let’s say 2-3 times a week. To achieve considerable results, there is no need to work out 4-5 times a week for several hours a day.

Very often, I hear people say: “I don’t have time for that”. You might not have time because your work consumes your entire agenda, and you have a social- and family life on top of that. Let me tell you this: The investment of exercising 2-3 hours a week contributes so much to your mental concentration, your sleep cycle, your physical fitness and your overall ability to perform, that it’s worth the investment multiple times. You can simply handle more, in a shorter time, and still feel good afterwards.

It is good for your body. Regular exercise strengthens your heart muscle and your blood vains. It also improves your digestion and metabolism. It strengthens your muslces, decreasing the chance of injury. There is a complete consencus amongst scientists that regular exercise simply prevents you from a lot of disease, increasing the chances to live a longer, healthier life. It will also help you to sleep better, especially when you stick to a reasonable diet. Ask a professional at your gym or sports club, or your family doctor for advise!

It is good for your mind. According to research by the Dutch Trimbos Institute, people who exercise 2-3 times a week have a 50% smaller chance to develop mental problems such as addiction or depression. Those who do experience mental unstability, recover considerably faster on average than people who do not exercise on a regular basis. After a training session, your body produces hormones like serotonin, endorphin and testosteron (mainly with men, but also with women), that all make you feel good.

Some advise to go ahead:

1. Start to consider it as something crucial. Lack of time cannot be an excuse
2. Ask yourself: What do I want to achieve? Do you want to lose weight? Improve your physical condition? Want to feel better mentally?
3. Think of the sport you would like to do most. Try different things. Most sports clubs offer a free trial, so take advantage of that!
4. Ask a professional at your sports club of your family doctor for advise when you have no experience. They can do all sorts of tests to determine the best way forward for you. This helps you to avoid injuries and gives you the fastest way to achieve your goals
5. Hold on! Plan it in your agenda. Stick to it. Go with friends. Commit yourself. Reward yourself for going. Do everything possible to make sure you stick to the discipline

Personally, I never considered myself a sports person. But as soon as I went, I started to experience the positive effects instantly. Since I exercise one, two and sometimes three times in a week (in various forms), I feel better physically, can handle more emotionally, sleep better and find it much easier to achieve other goals in life.

Photo by johnnyberg

Happy New Year, everyone! A new year and a new decade have begun and in line with the Law of Attraction, I can feel that 2010 is going to be an awesome year. As every year, great things will happen, as well as terrible things will happen in the world. In our personal lives, we will also face some unpleasant moments. Knowing that these moments will be inevitable, you can take some action to strengthen your immune system.

Traditionally, people list one or more new year’s resolutions; things they want to achieve or do in the new year, such as losing weight, quitting smoking, making that trip to a far away land or making a carreer move, for example. But research has shown that those resolutions are often not working out. Personally, I’d go for goals and plans instead!

Work on personal development

Growing yourself by spending time on personal development is likely to help you to deal with difficult situations easier.Knowing who you are, what you stand for, what your weak spots are and how to improve them, bringing stability in your life and live it healthy and consciously will build you the strenght to deal with challenges easier, and to put bad news into perspective.

Your PCP (Personal Crisis Plan)

The PCP is the crisis plan of your personal life, and relates to your inner circle. Companies often analyze their risks and try to prepare for any possible crisis scenario, so why wouldn’t you do that in your own life? Unless you would feel comfortable with it, I would not recommend to write it down, but to run the scenario in your head. Go through possible scenarios in your life; you get dumped by your boy- or girlfriend, a loved one dies, you lose your job, you fall ill. All scenarios no one is looking forward to, but they are likely to happen to all of us at some point in our lives. Look into all possible scenarios you consider relevant in your life and imagine how you would deal with it, and what it actually means. Obviously, there is no way to simulate the feeling of losing a loved one, for example, but it might help you to grow emotionally. Ask yourself that famous question in every scenario: What’s the worst that can happen? What are the consequences? How will it affect me? How can I deal with it?

Important note: Don’t spend too much time thinking about these scenarios. That could make you feel depressed, and that’s the least thing we want, don’t we?

Reduce your news consumption or change your perception

For sure, the year 2010 will bring us bad news on the world stage – your outer circle. Famous people will die, nature disasters will almost inevitably kill many, terrorist will strike and terrible, hidden acts of violence will reach the surface. Not the most optimistic vision of 2010, but realistically we can assume these things will happen – simply because they happen every year. A lot of people feel they have to be updated on the latest news nearly 24/7. If you are like that, you need to know one important thing about journalism: It’s by definition subjective, as journalists only select a small part of all available information to present to you, and bad news is more likely to make it through that selection than good news. Do not use the news to build a complete perception of what the world is like. A lot of good news happens, even as you read this, but it will never come under your attention. Reduce your news consumption if you feel it affects your mood, or pro-actively search for good-news stories!

Important note: I am not recommending you to close your eyes for the bad news that happens in our world, but to open up your eyes and ears to the good things that happen all the time!

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This blog post is a very personal one. It is my vision, my belief. I am actually writing this blog post from the balcony of my hotel room with ocean view, from where I can hear guitar sounds and singing people on the street as waves hit the shores. Being on holiday made me think about holiday…

In western society, most people only have a couple of weeks a year to enjoy a relaxing holiday, during which they are supposed to recharge physically and emotionally. Disappointment strikes as after a week back in business, the holiday feels like an event long gone. You must have heard the following line, if not from your own mouth: “Uff, back at work just a week and I already feel like I can use another holiday.”

Why is that so? Why is the effect of a holiday so minimal for many people? I gave it a thought, and I think I figured it out: Most people switch off!

You go on holiday, try to think as little as possible about… well, anything. You just try to relax, while keeping your brain clear from thoughts, fully focusing on food and drinks, the beach, the pool side and good-looking people that pass by. You switch of your system, and as soon as you get back to work, you switch it back on… To find yourself in the same state as you were before you shut it down.

I spend my holidays doing the same things as most people do – eating, drinking, sunbathing, swimming, exploring new places… But at the same time, I think. I think a lot! I use my holidays to reflect on my life, to find out what I enjoy and what I’d like to change. I literally look at my daily life from a distance to figure out if I’m still at the right track. I keep notes, scribble down rough ideas that pop up in my mind and organize my thoughts. When I get back and engage in day-to-day routine again, I am not just more energetic because I took a physical rest, I also feel happier, more organized and more focused.

This might work for you as well, or not. All I would like to recommend you is to spend some time consciously thinking about the way you spend your holidays so you can find the most effective way to spend those few precious weeks a year. A more effective holiday can literally change your life forever!

Photo by offnowgirl